USD Mixed at North America Open as Yen, Stocks, and Gold Shift
The dollar gained against the euro, pound, and commodity currencies but fell versus the yen, franc, and loonie as equity futures and chip stocks slumped.
The U.S. dollar opened the North American trading session in split fashion Thursday, advancing against the euro, British pound, Australian dollar, and New Zealand dollar while retreating against the Japanese yen, Swiss franc, and Canadian dollar — a divergence driven by shifting risk appetite, technical pressure, and a yen-supportive political headline out of Tokyo.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sparked an early yen rally after signaling that her government wants the Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world's largest pension pools, to redirect more capital into domestic financial assets. Traders interpreted the comments as potentially curbing overseas capital flows that have historically weighed on the yen. Officials walked back the urgency, however, clarifying that no immediate changes to GPIF's strategic allocation are planned — and the USDJPY recovered after bouncing off its converged 100- and 200-hour moving averages.
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The EURUSD and GBPUSD both entered the New York session near their intraday lows and are testing their own converged 100- and 200-hour moving averages. Analysts warn that a clean break below those levels would deepen the bearish outlook for both pairs and undo gains accumulated earlier in the week.
Risk sentiment took a broader hit as U.S. equity futures pointed to a weak open — Dow futures fell 322 points, S&P 500 futures dropped 75 points, and Nasdaq futures sank 548 points. Semiconductor and AI-related names bore the brunt of selling, with Intel off more than 4% and AMD, Nvidia, Micron, and Marvell all declining between 2.7% and 3.2%. Treasury yields moved in tandem with the defensive tone, with the 10-year note yield sliding nearly 5 basis points to 4.521%. In commodities, WTI crude surged more than 2% to top $80 per barrel, gold hovered near the psychologically significant $4,000 level, and Bitcoin fell roughly $978 to $63,100.
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